The Potter Saga: James Jackson
by Manski
Summary: A story based on a challenge by LifeJumper123, details in the first author's note. Harry Potter gets sent back to the Civil War-era United States and is taken in by Thomas Stonewall Jackson, consequently changing the Harry Potter series. It should be a pretty fluid timeline, and to be honest, I'm kinda winging it. So if it sucks, let me know.
1. Prologue

**/* See my profile for standard ownership disclaimer. This is a challenge I first saw on LifeJumper123's story Harry Potter-Lee. The requirements:**

**Harry must be raised by famous person or reincarnated famous person. DONE.**

**If Harry is raised by a famous person, he must return to his timeline before or during any of the school years. DONE.**

**Harry must somehow change the Muggle World, Magical World, or both. If he is raised by a famous person, he can change the past, present, or both. DONE.**

**Relationships: Harry and anyone female or Harry/Harem. Absolutely no slash. DONE. To be honest, I never got the Harry/Draco and Harry/Voldemort slash stories out there, but that's may be just me.**

**OPTIONAL: Super/Godlike Harry. DONE.**

**Note: I may be loose and free with dates, places, and facts, but it's fiction. Deal with it. Leggo!  
>***

Lily and James Potter were sitting on a sofa in the living room of their cottage in Godric's Hollow thinking about the prophecy that Dumbledore had just told them. "For neither can live while the other survives" was as clear as prophecies generally came. They knew that either their baby boy or the son of their good friends the Longbottoms would be destined to defeat the Dark Lord Voldemort.

So, the Potters started thinking about ways to keep their son alive long enough to defeat Voldemort. While they already had the Fidelius on the cottage, they also wanted a backup plan in case the worst were to happen.

James and Lily, with their intelligence and access to the extensive and ancient Potter library, started researching. After a few weeks, they finally found a solution: a ritual that a Potter had created as an ill-fated attempt to go back in time to meet Alexander the Great. Lily quickly got to work recreating the Arithmancy of the ritual in an attempt to successfully modify the ritual to not only send Harry back in time, but bring him back to the present time.

After weeks of nearly continuous work, Lily managed to modify the ritual enough to incorporate a block on Harry's core in an effort to blend in with the most likely Muggle society he'd be placed in. The block would be broken when his magical maturity hit at the age of 17, at which point the ritual would be reversed and the ritual and return Harry to his time.

Unfortunately for the Potters, they could not effectively determine where or when Harry would end up, other than the fact that he could be sent back between 100-200 years back. They determined to go along with the ritual, despite the unknown factors, hoping he would be sent to a time and place without the bloody war he was destined to win in Magical Britain.

On the fateful night when Voldemort came knocking, Lily and James both met their deaths with a smile, denying Voldemort the satisfaction of their begging while also providing the sacrifice necessary for the ritual.

_October 31, 1845  
>Clarksburg, Virginia, USA<em>

Thomas Jackson was on a short leave of absence from the Army before taking a position teaching at Virginia Military Institute under his old friend and comrade-in-arms Robert Lee. Taking a late-night ride around his parent's land, he saw a bright flash of light a couple hundred yards away. Drawing his cavalry sabre and sidearm, he cautiously nudged his horse Sally towards the light.

Not seeing anything suspicious, he dismounted his horse and approached on foot. He was shocked to find a baby wrapped in a blanket looking curiously at him. He decided to pick up the baby and take him back to his parents. His mother, Julia Jackson, immediately took to the baby with his jet-black hair and glowing green eyes. She noticed a letter tucked into the baby's blanket, opened it and read it aloud.

"His name is Harry James Potter, and it says here that he was born in 1980, and was sent back in time when his parents died this day in 1981 by a magical ritual." Since both Julia and her husband Jonathon were both Squibs, the idea of magic was not a shock to the family.

"His magical core was blocked as a part of the ritual, and he'll go back after his magical maturity, and that he'll have to fight a war against a Dark Wizard. Until then, it asks that we look after Harry as if he was our own. That shouldn't be a problem, right Jonathon?"

"Yes dear, that shouldn't be a problem. We can put him up in Thomas' old room. We can tell him about how we found him when he gets older."

And thus did Harry James Potter become Harry James Jackson, resident of the great state of Virginia in the United States in America.


	2. Chapter 1

**/* How'd you like the prologue? Short, I know. I'm sorry. I know I prefer chapters in the 1-5K length, but the prologue really didn't have much to set up before we get started. Mea culpa. Anyways, this should take us through Harry's early years. Note that he'll be called exclusively James Jackson in his time in the past, unless he's in trouble. And did I mention that the timeline Anyways, here we go.  
>***

_November 15, 1860  
>Virginia Military Institute, Lexington VA, USA<em>

James Jackson was having a good day. Though he went to the Virginia Military Institute full-time and classes were excused for the day, and the students were enjoying the sunshine and time off.

James had lived at the Institute ever since his adopted mother and father died when he was 11, leaving him to live at the Institute with his big brother and idol, Thomas. It was unsurprising when he immediately started sitting in on classes and managed to fake his age enough to officially enroll. Since he was a near-prodigy student and he was tall enough to get away with it, the Institute let the four year's difference slide.

Over the next three-plus years, James earned the respect of every instructor at the Institute, and was taken under the wing of Gen. Robert Lee himself. He was known for his prodigious intellect and his brilliant but simple battle plans that could easily be modified mid-combat.

As time went by, the instructors started grooming him for high leadership in the Army of the 1st Virginian. Even while participating in classes with students seven to eight years his senior, he still was first in his class.

Of course, not everyone was happy with the skill and brilliance he displayed, and he often had to take on jealous students resentful of the praise he received. While hand-to-hand combat was briefly discussed at the Institute, it was never officially taught. This didn't stop the jealous students from trying to give him a beating. Luckily, he had sent enough of a message after the last attack for the students to understand he wouldn't hide his brilliance.

**FLASHBACK**

After classes had finished on a Friday, James went to the stables to exercise his horse Templar. After saddling him and riding him around the dirt enclosure for a little bit, he brushed Templar down and headed towards the students' quarters.

However, he was shortly surrounded by ten of the older students ready to graduate. Recognizing the danger, he closed his eyes, concentrating on an ability he had discovered the first time the bullies had tried to prove a point with him.

He had, at the time, been 11, and had somehow been able to increase his speed and strength to beat the 16 year old who had tried to beat him up. He realized the potential of this discovery, and worked for weeks to perfect the ability.

He learned that, while meditating, he could visualize glowing green tendrils snaking from the center of his chest to his extremities, and that he could use these tendrils to manipulate his muscle density, making him stronger and faster without bulking him up.

Surrounded by angry ten young men between 17 and 20, he realized he would need all the assistance his manipulations would provide, even though he was not in the habit of using them for the sake of using them. He quickly beefed himself up, thanking God for his foresight to enlarge the tendrils snaking through him to speed up the process and waited for the rush.

The ten men came in a surprisingly uncoordinated rush for men learning the art of war, and James was quick to glide around them, punching and elbowing as he went. After dropping half of the attackers into unconsciousness, the other five backed off to get a strategy.

Now coming at him in a more coordinated fashion, James had to start working for his knockouts. Taking a kick across the chest in favor of avoiding an elbow to the nose, he lashed out with one of his tendrils at the man who kicked him.

Having recently mastered the art of manipulating the tendrils within his body, he was eager to see what would happen when he extended one beyond his body, and his experiment was a resounding success, with the man dropping unconscious at his feet, not to rise for three and a half hours.

The last four men were astonished. All they had seen was their friend kick the boy before dropping to the ground like a sack of flour. They, simply assuming James had moved so quickly they couldn't see him, turned to gape at him. Taking advantage of their shock, James quickly knocked the rest of them out.

He wandered off to tell his brother of his newest power, since he already knew about James' body manipulations, and offered to help him in whatever way possible. As the son of two Squibs, he couldn't do much, but he offered guidance and suggestions for James that more often than not would point him in a way to solve whatever problem he went to his brother for.

**END FLASHBACK**

Thomas, knowing of the block on his brother's magical core, was astonished to hear that James had somehow managed to cast non-vocal wandless magic. He suggested that James focus his efforts on military uses for his magic, though he didn't call it that.

James quickly developed a repertoire of what he dubbed "waves." Several were offensive, though had to be cast within a distance of the target. A few were healing waves. He even had a couple for cleaning, mostly his quarters, clothing, and the cannons the army used. He also developed on that allowed him to see if anyone else around him could use tendrils within their own body.

While he was working on these waves, he made sure to not let anyone know what he was doing and to not slack on his school work. Thomas made sure to stress discretion, knowing that if he displayed overt signs of magic, he would have to go to a school in New York to learn how to control magic. But so life went on, until this fateful day in November.

James was having a good day. He had rounded up a friendly group of students for a game of low-stakes poker, when he felt Thomas coming up behind him. Scooping up the pot he had just won, James turned to his brother.

"Major Jackson" James said with a crisp salute, "what is happening sir? I heard a huge shout before, but could not hear what was said."

"Well, baby brother" Thomas replied with a casual, ignoring the customary grimace on James' face when faced with that hated nickname, "Virginia just declared independence from the United States of America, following the other Southern states. You want to head to my room to talk?"

James nodded, thinking deeply, and followed his brother to his quarters. After making sure they were both seated, Thomas poured them both a finger of whiskey.

At James' raised eyebrow, Thomas replied, "We'll need it. This is some deep shit James. I assume you want to fight?" At James' nod, he sighed. "I figured. I do too, and I'm inclined to fight for my native Virginia over the States. You?" James nodded again, and Thomas let out a small smirk. "Well, Lincoln's in for it now. Let's finish these, and make it official. Cheers."

They downed their whiskey, James choking a little of his, and took the rest of the day to withdraw and resign from the Institute, deciding to ride to Richmond the next day. James had little to pack, knowing that any uniform would be provided when he enlisted, so he just had to add his personal effects to his saddlebags.

Pausing over his schoolbooks, he decided to leave them, but refused to leave his precious copy of Sun Tzu's Art of War General Lee had given him for his birthday the year before. Wrapping the Bowie knife his brother had given him for the same birthday in some undershirts and adding a pair of boots, he decided that should be enough and turned in for the night.

Before he did, he made sure to organize the day's thoughts in his mind, something that he'd done for years. Ever since he had started meditating to find his tendrils, he discovered that having a clear mind would make it easier for him to focus and manipulate his tendrils. Satisfied with his efforts, he passed out, knowing the next day would be a long one.


End file.
